December 7, 2017 • The Essex Reporter • 1
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FREE Vol. 16, No. 48 essexreporter.com
{ Thursday, December 7, 2017 }
Garey named police chief
Boards choose manager finalist Officials extend offer to unnamed candidate
By COLIN FLANDERS
By COLIN FLANDERS
Cpt. Rick Garey, a 27year department veteran, has been named Essex’s next police chief. Garey begins as the town’s top cop starting January 13, the day after 37year veteran Brad LaRose will retire from the position, said municipal manager Pat Scheidel at Monday night’s selectboard meeting. PHOTO BY COLIN FLANDERS
Tan Tran, co-owner of Shannon's Jewelers, studies a diamond ring last Friday morning in the Essex Shopping Plaza. Tran and his wife, Shannon, purchased the storefront last year from longtime Essex jeweler Steve Saunders.
Crown jewelers Tran family reflects on first year in business
FILE PHOTO
Cpt. Rick Garey will begin as chief of the Essex Police Department on January 13.
T
By COLIN FLANDERS
an Tran has always been the man behind the curtain.
Garey began with Essex as a dispatcher in 1989. He’s since held every position in the department and is currently serving as the town’s information technology director – experience that, combined with a “commitment to honesty and integrity,” makes him a good fit to lead, Scheidel said. “He came up A-plus on all of the review points, and I’m very confident in my decision,” Scheidel said. The choice to appoint internally instead of conducuting an outside search stems from Scheidel’s experience with both approaches, he said. He selected thenCpt. Leo Nadeau as chief in 2007, and conducted a recruitment effort before he handed the role to theninterim chief LaRose five years later.
While his custom pieces sat in showrooms waiting to be discovered, the
dutiful jeweler was already busy with the next task. That all changed last year when Tran opened his own store, Shannon’s
Jewelry, where he now traces his work from idea to sale, witnessing the reward of a grateful customer, of a job well done. “When a client comes in and I’m able to express my skill — ‘I made this one, and this is how I made it’ — to me, it's surreal,” Tran said. He’s had little time to take it all in. He and his wife, Shannon, just welcomed another baby girl into the family, their third under age 5. Most mornings he’s in well before 7 a.m. He's lucky to leave at least 12 hours later. And some nights, after the children are settled, he returns to the shop for some extra work, though the long days don’t appear to have lessened his energy. “You have to put your heart and soul into it if you want it to work,” Tran said. A lamp spat light onto Tan’s calloused hands as he peered at a giant diamond through a tiny magnifying glass. He can spend up to two days working on a custom piece like this, he said, tweaking and prodding until it’s perfect. Or, when creating replicas of jewelry sometimes over a century old, not so perfect but just right.
See GAREY, page 2
The trustees and selectboard have unanimously selected a finalist to replace retiring manager Pat Scheidel. The boards left a fivehour private session last Saturday afternoon to announce they would extend an offer to their “chosen candidate.” They didn’t name who that was, however. Village president George Tyler called the “cryptic” motion an effort to protect the finalist’s privacy. “If we go through the candidates, and for some reason or another we get turned down, then the candidate has his name being published being out looking for another job,” Tyler said. Last Friday, five candidates interviewed with three panels comprised of municipal professionals, employees and citizens, respectively. Those panels ranked candidates before recruiter Don Jutton selected a trio to advance to the boards. Asked for factors in their decision, Tyler listed the panels’ rankings in addition to “experience and fit,” especially considering how the town-village relationship offers a unique scenario for an incoming manager. Selectboard chairman Max Levy also pointed to the boards’ 10-0 vote, which he said “speaks volumes.” The decision means the boards are nearing the end of a four-month process in which they once extended their deadline due to a shallow pool of applicants. Their eventual sixweek recruitment yielded 37 applicants, 13 with prior See MANAGER, page 3
See JEWELRY, page 10
County officials keep tabs on water quality bill By COLIN FLANDERS Chittenden County officials worry a plan to escalate funding for Vermont’s water quality projects could hamper local efforts by charging proactive communities twice. Addison Sen. Christopher Bray has proposed legislation to charge all Vermont property owners a $1 monthly per parcel fee, which he says would raise about $4.5 million per year, according to a draft of the bill. The Public Utility Commission would administer that fee and could later charge for impervious surfaces once mapping data becomes available. Yet county officials say the plan fails to account for communities’ work to date, running the risk of siphoning funds from existing programs that have effectively helped mitigate local impacts. The concern is shared by Essex public works director Dennis Lutz, who plans to follow up with legislators “if this thing has feet and starts to walk,” he said. Bray’s draft comes at a pivotal time for Essex and its efforts to combat stormwater pollution. The town is preparing to complete the 2015 flow restoration plan thanks to a $1.35 million grant issued this summer. And Lutz expects a soon-tobe-released state target for reducing phosphorus
We’re moving! Reporter offices relocating to Milton
levels will jumpstart a yearlong process to create a removal plan in town. But first, Lutz needed to ensure the town could afford the local match for those grants. He said the town should be able to double its capital funding for stormwater without adding more than the current 2 cents on the tax rate, freeing up about $150,000 per year — enough - Draft legislation proposes to immediately to charge property owners $1 cover grants almonthly per parcel ready secured and seek more - Would reportedly raise $4.5 next year. million anually for Vermont Lutz can water quality efforts use the phosphorus blueprint to show - Officials fear with no credit the most imsystem, bill could hinder pactful projects local programs by charging over the next the taxpayers twice two decades and tag an overall dollar value to the state’s target. Then, he may request a bond to help the town leverage for more grants. At least, that’s the plan for now.
Next week, The Essex Reporter offices will relocate from Severance Corners in Colchester to a space in Milton. The Reporter’s new office will be at 69 Main St., a location occupied by sister paper the Milton In-
See WATER, page 2
dependent since 2011. The Reporter, Independent and Colchester Sun will all be housed out of that space by December 14. The move was spurred once the papers’ publisher, Lynn Publications, consolidated the advertising
PHOTO BY BEN CHIAPPINELLI
A White's Tree Farm employee bails a Christmas to make it easier to transport last week.
Christmas tree, o Christmas tree White's Tree Farm expands its cheerful operation By NEEL TANDAN “Mother Nature grows them very, very nicely over there,” Bob White said. Owner of White’s Tree Farm in Essex, White was referring to a newly acquired 12-acre tract of land in Jericho. After 10 years, many of
departments for all three Chittenden County weeklies at the St. Albans Messenger offices, leaving too much space for six editorial staff. The Milton office will be leased from Don Turner Jr., whose parents run
the 14,000 trees planted there are ready for harvest. Indeed, White spoke next to a wooden rack full of them. They were dense, a deep green color, puffed up and full of moisture, the needles reflecting a turquoise blue light.
their family construction business in the suite next door. Turner and Lynn Co. publisher Emerson Lynn recently inked a one-year lease. As a result, the Reporter’s phone number will change to 893-2028 moving forward. Its mailing
See TREES, page 3
address will change to The Essex Reporter, P.O. Box 163, Milton VT 05468. See page 5 for more information on the move, and email executive editor Courtney Lamdin at courtney@miltonindependent. com with any questions.